Sunday Poll: Support Commissioned Corporate Security Having Arrest Powers?

Recently the Missouri legislature overrode the veto of 10 bills, allowing them to become law. One,  SCS HB 878, relates to corporate security:

Gives the Public Safety Department authority to commission corporate security advisors. It would deny licensed corporate security advisers arrest powers unless they are commissioned by the department. It grants immunity to the department from lawsuits for commissioning corporate security officers. Nixon’s veto letter argued that the bill would give private security officers police powers including the power of arrest and to search private property. (Neosho Daily News)

So what do you think about this new law?

The poll will close at 8pm, answers are randomized.

— Steve Patterson

Buildings on Locust Street Have Needed Massing

Though not always easy, I like to end the week on a positive note. Today’s post is positive in that something bad hasn’t happened, hopefully won’t.

The corner building, 923 Locust, didn’t always have that fake half-timber look. The second, however, is mostly original. As I’m not a preservationist, I have no problem razing one or both of these. As an urbanist, the only acceptable solution would be new buildings of equal or greater massing.

This is one reason why the Downtown Neighborhood Association is looking to add a form-based zoning overlay. I think Thursday October 8th is the date for the first public meeting on the subject. I’ll have details before then.

— Steve Patterson

Reading: End of Automobile Dependence: How Cities are Moving Beyond Car-Based Planning

I recently received a very interesting new book: End of Automobile Dependence: How Cities are Moving Beyond Car-Based Planning by Peter Newman and Jeffrey Kenworthy. It’s always nice to hear that at least other cities are changing their planning practices away from old car-based models.

When looking at books I start with the table of contents:

1. The Rise and Fall of Automobile Dependence
2. Urban Transportation Patterns and Trends in Global Cities
3. Emerging Cities and Automobile Dependence
4. The Theory of Urban Fabrics: Understanding the End of Automobile Dependence
5. Transportation Planning: Hindrance or Help?
6. Overcoming Barriers to the End of Automobile Dependence
7. The End of Automobile Dependence: A Troubling Prognosis?
8. Conclusion: Life after Automobile Dependence

And I look through the index to see covered topics.

From publisher Island Press:

Cities will continue to accommodate the automobile, but when cities are built around them, the quality of human and natural life declines. Current trends show great promise for future urban mobility systems that enable freedom and connection, but not dependence. We are experiencing the phenomenon of peak car use in many global cities at the same time that urban rail is thriving, central cities are revitalizing, and suburban sprawl is reversing. Walking and cycling are growing in many cities, along with ubiquitous bike sharing schemes, which have contributed to new investment and vitality in central cities including Melbourne, Seattle, Chicago, and New York.

We are thus in a new era that has come much faster than global transportation experts Peter Newman and Jeffrey Kenworthy had predicted: the end of automobile dependence. In The End of Automobile Dependence, Newman and Kenworthy look at how we can accelerate a planning approach to designing urban environments that can function reliably and conveniently on alternative modes, with a refined and more civilized automobile playing a very much reduced and manageable role in urban transportation. The authors examine the rise and fall of automobile dependence using updated data on 44 global cities to better understand how to facilitate and guide cities to the most productive and sustainable outcomes.

This is the final volume in a trilogy by Newman and Kenworthy on automobile dependence (Cities and Automobile Dependence in 1989 and Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence in 1999). Like all good trilogies this one shows the rise of an empire, in this case that of the automobile, the peak of its power, and the decline of that empire.

I look forward to checking out the references to Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT).

— Steve Patterson

Readers: Missouri Should Join States, Like Oregon, Allowing Physician-Assisted Suicide For The Terminally Ill

In the last year the issue of physician-assisted suicide has been in news again, prompted by the following video by Brittany Maynard.

After moving from California to Oregon, she ended her life on November 1, 2014. Her husband returned to California and pushed for legislation, which passed earlier this month:

The California Senate approved a controversial bill Friday that would legalize physician-prescribed life-ending medication for terminally ill patients. The focus now moves to Gov. Jerry Brown, who has yet to indicate where he stands on the issue. (Time)

I’ve supported right-to-die since the issue came into the public arena in the late 90s with Jack Kevorkian. While I don’t understand religious objections, I get other reasons:

Disability rights advocates and oncologists opposed the legislation, saying it takes advantage of the poor and vulnerable. (San Jose Mercury News)

I can see how someone wouldn’t want to be a burden on their family, not a good reason to die. On the other hand, we don’t know the pain & suffering they endure. Who are we to tell them they must continue suffering rather than dying in a more dignified manner?

Here are the results from the Sunday Poll:

Q: Agree or disagree? Missouri should join states, like Oregon, allowing physician-assisted suicide for the terminally ill.

1. Strongly agree 20 [47.62%]
2. Agree 11 [26.19%]
3. Strongly disagree 6 [14.29%]
4. Somewhat agree 3 [7.14%]
5. TIE  1 [2.38%]
   1. Somewhat disagree
   2. Disagree
6. TIE: 0 [0%]
   1. Neutral
   2. Unsure/No Answer

Those voting on the agree side accounted for over 80% of the votes in the non-scientific poll. Strong support, but I don’t see this getting anywhere in Missouri.

— Steve Patterson

Weekend View From The Eads Bridge

Over the weekend we walked down to see the progress at Luther Ely Smith Square, and the Arch. before heading back to our loft we went out on the pedestrian walkway of the Eads Bridge.

Next nice day we have I’d encourage you to go for a walk on the Eads.  Over the next year the view below will change dramatically.

— Steve Patterson